MOTORCYCLE EXHIBIT | Show draws crowds

Photo by: Jean Niece

Special to the Vindicator

Photo

Bruce Williams of Cortland, left, talks about the 1908 Crouch motorcycle with Randy Kretz of Newbury, Ohio, center, and John Snodgrass of Farmington. Williams is co-chairman of the "Motorcycles on Main Street Exhibit at the Packard Museum in Warren.

Photo by: Jean Niece

Special to the Vindicator

Photo

Randy Kretz of Newbury, Ohio, inspects a 1908 Crouch motorcycle at the Packard Museum on Saturday, January 8th. This is the oldest motorcycle in the museum's Motorcycles on Main Street show.

By Jordan Cohen

news@vindy.com

WARREN

The motorcycle has been a subject of American fascination for more than a century, which explains why “Motorcycles on Main Street,” the 11th annual antique-cycle exhibition at the National Packard Museum here, already has attracted hundreds of aficionados.

The display opened Saturday and runs through May 29.

“I couldn’t wait to get here,” said Dave Wrench, Youngstown, who also is a collector of older motorcycles. “I have 11 bikes.”

“People are always interested in transportation, especially these early bikes where you can see how they ran,” said Bruce Williams, Cortland, who has been curator of the exhibit since its inception. “Last year, we had thousands visit, and I’m sure we’ll do even better this year.” A preview of the exhibit Friday drew nearly 300 people.

More than 30 antique cycles are on display alongside classic Packard automobiles, most of them in the museum’s Great Hall Gallery, a 10,000-square-foot addition that opened last July. Williams said all of the motorcycles are operational.

“You could ride any of these anywhere,” he said.

The oldest is a fully restored 1908 Crouch, manufactured in Stoneham, Mass. It was rebuilt from the original motor and gas tank. Alongside is a 1911 Marsh Metz, a 3-horsepower two-wheeler that has all its original parts and looks it. Williams said the cycle was wrecked “sometime before 1920” and sat in an Arkansas barn for decades before it was purchased by a Chagrin Falls collector, who fixed the damage and made the cycle usable without restoring it.

“He paid around $8,500 for it, and now it’s probably worth between $50,000 and $60,000,” Williams said.

Daryl Timko, Hartford, bought and restored a 1941 Indian Chief motorcycle, among the first to have skirted fenders.

“The last license plate on it was from 1949, and it had been stored in an airplane hangar,” Timko said. “It was completely rusted, and it took two years to completely restore it.”

Each motorcycle seems to have a unique story. Some were made by companies not usually associated with transportation, such as Sears and Sunbeam.

There is the 1946 Harley-Davidson Servi Car, so called because of its rear container that carried tools and spare parts service stations would need for helping disabled vehicles on the road. A 1964 Servi Car, also on display, once was owned by New Castle, Pa., police, who used it for traffic control and to issue parking tickets.

“All of the [displays] are put together by museum volunteers, and we don’t pay to bring in machines,” Williams said. As an example, Williams said, the owner of three of the cycles in this year’s exhibit brought them from Florida at his own cost.

“This is a very cool show and definitely worth the trip,” said Brandon Fitzpatrick of Stow, accompanied by his wife and 8-year-old son. The longtime cycle enthusiast said he formerly owned cycles, “but not now, because I’m married.”

His wife, standing next to him, nodded and smiled.